Anti-Bullying

Collaborative Problem Solving

This week we will spend time on the topic of behavior management and strategies for anti-bullying. Here are a number of resources to explore and consider implementing in your work with children. Share your thinking about your research. You may include your rethinking about behavior, ideas for "Anthony", and strategies that you may want to trial in your new placement. Site your resources. Your response should be 300-500 words and respond to at least 2 others.​Consider This: A child's behavior is a symptom of a difficulty (an unmet expectation and a child with skill deficits) that manifests into a behavior. A teacher's role is to identify the unmet expectations (academic/behavior/social) and the skill deficits that the child needs to learn to meet the expectation. Once understood, the educator creates a new set of expectations that allow the student to succeed and learn.

Collaborative Problem Solving (Lives in the Balance) and Think Kidsare two organizations that believe 'kids do well if they can'. They believe that when a child can not do well it is not because 'they don't want to' but that they are missing skills (lagging skills). These 'lagging skills' make it difficult or impossible to meet the expectations (behavior, emotional, social academic) that are needed to be successful. They DO NOT believe it is just a matter of 'will' and that you need to make them 'want to'. It is our job to help develop those skills so kids can meet the expectations. Their program provides the adult (parents, teachers, clinicians) with the skills to work with children with lagging skills.Article: Kids Do Well If They CanBullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. ​

​School to Prison Pipeline: When we fail to educate

Each year, significant numbers of students miss class due to suspensions and expulsions—even for minor infractions of school rules—and students of color and with disabilities are disproportionately impacted.

DOE and DOJ developed a package of guidance information that includes:

Dear Colleague letter describing how schools can meet their legal obligations under federal law to administer student discipline without discriminating against students on the basis of race, color or national origin

Publication about “best practices” describing three key principles and related action steps to guide state and local efforts to improve school climate and school discipline

U.S. DOE and DOJ Release School Discipline Guidance PackageThe transformed CRDC makes public long hidden data about discipline in schools. Get a good visual summary of all kinds of information about suspensions, expulsions, arrests, restraint and seclusion, student retention and… the disparate rates between disabled and non-disabled kids.

The National Adult Literacy Survey reported that the percentage of prisoners in U.S. jails who tested at the two lowest levels of reading proficiency is 70% (2003).

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that 30 percent of federal inmates, 40 percent of state prison inmates, and 50 percent of persons on death row are high school dropouts (2003, 2007).

But what does this have to do with early literacy? The correlation between early reading experience and high school dropout is proven repeatedly in academic studies. In 2011 the Annie E. Casey Foundation report “Early Warning! Why reading by the end of third grade matters” showed definitively that low-income children who are not reading on grade level by 3rd grades are six times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers are. And low-income children of color who are not at grade level by 3rd grade? Eight times more likely to drop out of high school.

This week we will focus on 3 types of disabilities that you often see in public schools (Specific Learning Disability, Autism and Communication). Spend a few hours researching and share your thinking around successful inclusive practices . Consider "Anthony" is this discussion and share out ideas that could support his successful integration into his school and community. Your initial response should be 300+ words with at least 2 responses to other participants.

Specific Learning Disability

​What is and isn’t a learning disability (LD)? LD is more than a difference or difficulty with learning — it is a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information (click on image to get to webpage).​

Communication

A communication disability disability is an impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems. A communication disorder may be evident in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech. A communication disorder may range in severity from mild to profound.

Essential Components of RTI: Response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a multi‐level prevention system to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools use data to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence‐based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities. The four essential components of an RTI framework are screening, progress monitoring, multi-level or multi-tier prevention system, and data-based decision making.

The Massachusetts Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a blueprint for school improvement that focuses on system structures and supports across the district, school, and classroom to meet the academic and non-academic needs of all students. It was developed to help guide the establishment of a system that provides high-quality core educational experiences in a safe and supportive learning environment for all students and targeted interventions/supports for students who experience academic and/or behavioral difficulties and students who have already demonstrated mastery of the concept and skills being taught.

Schools and districts are encouraged to work toward an integrated approach to support students' academic and social-emotional competencies. All students receive academic instruction and behavioral supports that include differentiation and extension activities and are guided by the three Universal Design for Learning principles (multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expressions, and multiple means of engagement).

MTSS Application to Students with IEP'sRelevant information from students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) is incorporated into the design and implementation of instruction and assessments to enable students eligible for special education services to access fully the system of tiered instruction and non-academic supports. Here are some reference guides ​for that process.

This week you will spend time learning about the concept of Response to Intervention (2-3+ hours). Reflect on what you have learned. Consider our course case study, past learning experiences (yourself or others), and prior/current/future learning institutions (camp, schools, childcare, tutoring, etc.). What information can you find from your last/current/future placement around the use of RtI? Or share a story of: RtI in practice, RtI ideas that could have helped a student or institution, or ideas to support our case study student (be mindful to protect the confidentiality of students, families, and schools).

Expanding Your Perceptions: Misunderstood Minds http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/ will allow you the opportunity to understand the struggles that a student might experience. During this online experience, you will spend approximately thirty minutes for two of the four topics (Attention, Reading, Writing, and Mathematics). Complete the simulations for each selected topic and respond in the course blog.

Reflection Prompt: Misunderstood Minds provides educators (and others) an opportunity to gain insight to students who have difficulties in the classroom. What feelings came up during these experiences? What would have supported your success? What might a student with limited coping skills feel when in this position each day at school? What insights can you share about the difficulty and possible strategies could be in place to ensure access to the curriculum and instruction to improve skills?

Norms for educational blog writing: It is important to set the atmosphere for our online blogging as we will be sharing insight, personal perspectives, and past experiences. For some, you may be well versed in posting images, responding to others, and navigating a strong online presence, but for others sharing your professional voice may be new. 1. Assume good intentions. Participants want to support and communicate to engage and learn.2. What we share matters and may leave us vulnerable. Trust that our classmates will keep us safe as we share and explore topics in special education.3. We are not only responsible for our own learning, but the learning of our classmates. Share your knowledge, experience, and perspective.4. Ask, question, share, and reflect.5. Reread your post/response before posting to ensure you have communicated well and can be understood.